The newly released “Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street” by Michael Davis presents a history of the 40-year-old television show, from the first inklings of thoughts by its creators to its modern inception.

The book reads more a novel than as a historical recount, which helps move the first several chapters along faster than they would otherwise. Subtitles to the chapters would have been helpful, and would have fit into the novel quality of the book, but as the book reads chronologically, they aren’t strictly necessary.

The first chapters are several loosely linked tales of the people who would become pivotal to the creation of ‘Sesame Street,’ and focus more on why these people were drawn toward the show, instead of how they were involved technically.

For those of us who picked up the book because of our lingering childhood love for the ‘Street,’ this book picks up in the colorful world we recognize in the double-digit chapters. Here, we finally get many behind the scenes glances at the beloved television show.

One of my favorite parts was chapter 11, which explained the origins of and debates surrounding the iconic theme song. Although the music was thought to be genius from the start, the lyrics were highly disliked by the staff. Eventually, the writers edited to the version we have today that has “become a siren song for preschoolers.”

Chapter 12 was also fascinating. It discussed how a puppet gets its character. Before being shown to the audience, the puppeteer(s) will play with voices and mannerisms to give the puppet its distinct character. Most interesting was reading how Frank Oz found the vastly different characters of Bert, Grover and Cookie Monster (who in recent years of the show has been put on a diet, and has become the “Sometimes-Cookie Monster”).

Overall, this was a great read. The second half of the book is far more interesting than the first. Really, readers should pick up the book, skip straight to the section of photographs on page 125, and read forward from there.

Despite the slow-moving first section, this was a fun book to savor a few nostalgic chapters at a time. Those who were ‘Street’ fans in childhood will find themselves thinking, “So that’s how they did that!”

By the end of the book, you’ll know we have Elmo to thank for saving Sesame Street from cancellation, and readers of ‘Street Gang’ will thank Davis too for reminding us of Jim Henson’s “inspiring raft of characters that make you smile just thinking about them.”

-Sarah Dorn is an english junior.